Going to court is – by almost any metric – the nuclear option in a family law case. Literally everyone is scared of it and almost anyone would try to avoid it if there was any way at all. Usually, though not always, it’s possible to negotiate outside of court. In fact, most family law...
Court Order v. Negotiated Agreement – What’s Best?
It’s hard to get generalized divorce and custody advice because no two cases are exactly alike. It’s hard, too, to give generalized advice. In a lot of blogs and articles, I talk generally about divorce or custody cases. But if yours is a high conflict case, you may feel like the generalized advice doesn’t fit...
Mediation can be a cost effective way to resolve issues without having to go to court, but it’s still nice to be able to choose whether (or not) to participate in any mediated processes. For one thing, mediators vary wildly – some are attorneys though most are not; some have familiarity with difficult personalities and...
I see misinformation everywhere, almost every single day. It seems like, when it comes to legal advice, almost everyone thinks they know all the answers – and they’re comfortable enough to tell other people what they should do, too. The thing is, though, that they’re often wrong. Just today I saw some divorce coach on...
Not every case can be negotiated – this we all know. But, in an ideal world, you and your soon-to-be ex would negotiate, because this is going to give you the most control over how your case will be resolved. No matter what issues are involved, you have essentially two options: agree, or go to...
Childcare is one of the most difficult parts of parenting. It just is. I think that is true across the board, regardless of whether you are married to your child’s father, never married your child’s father, divorced your child’s father, are separated from your child’s father, or your child’s father is totally MIA. It’s really,...
Eeks – the word bulldog! I hate it. I really do. But still, time and time again, that’s what people ask for. A shark. A bulldog. A pitbull. A no-nonsense, take-no-names, kick-ass lawyer. I get it. The stakes are high. They’re high in any legal case, but they may be especially high in family law. ...
Though the laws vary (sometimes dramatically!) from state-to-state, the law in Virginia is that spousal support terminates in three specific circumstances: (1) the death of either party, (2) the remarriage of the recipient party, and (3) the continued cohabitation of the recipient party in a relationship analogous to marriage for a period of one year...